Holiday Spirit
by Sharkey52
Summary: Protector of Silence mini-sequel. All the peeps with no place to go in Fiore meet up at Kate's for the holidays. Shenanigans ensue as Kate tries to handle her house guests, Rhythmi tries to understand Jewish festivals, Murph searches for an escape from jet lag, Percy searches for some sanity and Keith searches for a little something else.


**Holiday spirit**

**Protector of Silence mini-sequel. All the peeps with no place to go meet up at Kate's for the holidays. Shenanigans ensue as Kate tries to handle her house guests, Rhythmi tries to understand Jewish festivals, Murph searches for an escape from jet lag, Percy searches for some sanity and Keith searches for a little something else.**

* * *

_"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas card I write~"_

The popular Christmas song poured from the speakers plugged into Kate's styler on top of the microwave, propped up by a book called: 'EASY POFFINS!' and a paperweight shaped like a Blastoise that had escaped Percy's desk. The song was only briefly disturbed by the soft clinking of mugs in the sink as Kate gently glided the yellow cloth over their ceramic surfaces. Normally she'd put mugs like these in the dishwater that was currently humming away full of dinner plates and cooking bowls, but they'd been decorated with special markers for Sorrel's last birthday and she didn't want them to be ruined. These three mugs were special - one for every Hitomi sibling - and was one of the few things they shared. The age gap between Kate and her oldest brother (half-brother really, but Percy was a Hitomi through-and-through and had the father-son adoption papers to prove it, so Kate had never considered him anything but her older brother) meant that he always seemed to be working, therefore he never had time for his little siblings. Sorrel had always viewed Percy as more of a father than a brother - he'd been born when Percy was 16 after all - perhaps because of their father's need to be on the go with work near-constantly that had kept him away from home so often throughout Sorrel's and indeed Kate's own childhood. But Kate knew she was better off than some people, so didn't complain. Just coped.

"Hi Katie!"

Kate didn't jump when she heard the yell from the back corridor of the bungalow, even though she knew the doors were locked and the snow outside was deep enough to loose your five-year-old child in. Things were just like that with Sorrel.

"Heya" she called over her shoulder, setting Sorrel's mug (decorated with scribbles that might in some other life have been dinosaurs) down at the side on the rack to dry and moving on to Percy's. "Back door still stuck?"

"Yup, came in your bedroom window instead" Sorrel announced proudly. Kate could hear the sound of him shuffling out of his winter coat in the entrance hall.

"Did you take your wellies off before coming in?" she asked, still not looking up from her gentle work on the decorated mug. On the radio app of her styler, 'White Christmas' had turned into 'Feed the World', the old charity song humming around the kitchen.

"Yeah!" Sorrel yelled again, the sound of the zip of his coat clattering against the floor as he dropped it.

"Pick it up!" Kate immediately shot back, looking over her shoulder for the first time since Sorrel had arrived. Due to the layout of the house, she couldn't see the entrance hall from the sink, but it held the unspoken message of 'I can tell when you're not doing as you're told'.

"Can I use the computer? I wanna Skype Reed" Sorrel's voice echoed from the entrance hall again. His best friend Reed was spending the holidays in sunny Undella Town in Unova.

"Sure, and check Percy hasn't left any mugs in there will you?" Kate requested. She inwardly winced as she remembered a few days days ago when she'd entered the study to find ten days worth of cold coffee mugs and a plate of three-day-old half-eaten sandwiches. Percy has received a thorough scolding for that stunt.

"'Kay!" Sorrel called back for the last time, his sock-clothen feet patting hastily across the carpet of the living room and into the back corridor before she heard the study door slam shut. Shadow jolted in his basket under his blanket in the corner where the kitchen met the living room, yellow eyes wide with fear as he whined at the sudden noise.

"Easy Shad, it's okay" Kate whispered to him. The Umbreon looked at her with one last whine before lowering his head and closing his eyes to sleep again.

Kate sighed, turning the volume of her styler up in an effort to hide the near-silence in house behind a medley of Christmas hits. She loves her brothers, she really does (or at least, that's what her parents tell her; though she's fairly certain 'love' is when you're supposed to want to unconditionally protect someone from harm, not _cause_that person harm), but Percy worked so much during the winter ("It's ridiculous really, the amount of calls we get during winter. And they're never, actually, serious! I swear to Arceus, if I get called to clear one more person's driveway...!") he's never around to see her distress and loneliness; Sorrel meanwhile is either completely oblivious or just doesn't care, though Kate dearly hopes it's the first one. She understands her parents need to go to this conference - the bills don't just themselves after all, now Percy's finally started realising he can _spend_ his own pay check money and not just hand it over with the reasoning of "I dunno what to do with it" - but she wished it didn't have to be at Christmas: a time of family gatherings and merriment. Now she only had her brothers to stand by her. Them and a few friends her parents had permitted her to allow over.

"Katie girl! Where are you?"

Well, her parents had given _Percy_ permission to invite a few (there weren't that many to start with) of his ranger friends home for Christmas. But Kate and Percy were siblings after all - what's mine is yours and all that - and that includes permission grants, she'd decided.

...Yeah, this totally wasn't going to blow up in Kate's face when Sorrel finds out. Yup. Totally not.

"Rhythmi?" Kate back-pedalled so she can see the entrance hall around the corner, and beamed when she saw a familiar blonde shrugging off her coat and boots by the front door.

"Katie!" Rhythmi gushed, swooping forwards and catching Kate in a bone-crushing hug. "Finally, I thought I'd never get here! I mean Penny was flipping out because I was leaving her alone on duty over Christmas and Joel had the whole base on pretty much lock-down after that blizzard and Aria fried the electrics whilst she was in the shower and Timothy and Keith - not our Keith, his namesake - nearly killed her for it because they couldn't watch Star Trek and - and - and I'm so glad to see you!"

Kate laughed and wrapped her arms around Rhythmi in return. "Great to see you too, Rhyth. How are your sisters?"

"Oh! They're great!" Rhythmi pulled away to look Kate in the eye, a grin lighting up her face. "They're upset I'm not coming home for Christmas, but you girl matter more - I'm not letting one of my girlfriends spend the best holiday of the year with a crowd of rowdy, pubescent boys!"

Kate shook her head. "The only pubescent boy should be Sorrel, if all goes to plan. Other than him it should only be Percy and whatever poor suckers have been declared homeless for the holidays." She inwardly winced (she'd been doing a lot of that lately) as she remembered the same thing had happened at Thanksgiving at Ringtown Base. She hadn't gone to the gathering herself - she and Sorrel had voted for staying with their maternal grandmother instead, but later they admitted they wished they hadn't - but by what Percy had told her, it was a surprise Spenser hadn't had a heart attack after that shenanigan.

"Well, I'm not going to allow one of my girlfriends to be a slave to a group of men who can remember the nineties and one pubescent boy" Rhythmi decided, setting down the front door key she'd borrowed from Kate earlier in the month on the table.

Kate sighed inwardly and went back over to the sink. "I won't be a slave - most of these guys saw me whilst I was still in nappies after all."

"**_They did; we all did actually. Percy was very proud of you and wanted us all to meet you_**."

Kate perked up upon hearing the voice in the back of her mind. '_Gee, thanks Solana. Just remind me some of my friends can remember me in nappies, way to make me feel better._'

It wasn't very often Solana spoke up - she seemed to appreciate Kate didn't like people assuming she was a schizophrenic or something - but when she did Kate was always there to listen. Solana was the older sister she had never had, and like all big sisters she was always there to comfort her or give her a piece of advice or make her laugh in a way that would brighten up her day even if only just a little bit. Maybe it was a just a guardian thing.

(And it reminded Kate to ask Kellyn if Lunick was there for him the way Solana was for her the next time they wrote to one another. Solana claimed he was, but far from being supportive, Lunick seemed to have made it his afterlife's mission to make Kellyn look as crazy as possible. It was apparently starting to get a little out of hand after Kellyn's out-loud exclamation of: "Lunick, I swear I will not forgive your yelling until the day I die and I can get up in your non-existent face and yell right back!" right in the middle of his bedroom, leading his little sister to believe dear Kellyn must be possessed and force him to watch The Exorcist. Kate - and Keith and Rhythmi when they found out about it - hadn't stopped laughing for nearly a day after reading that in Kellyn's most recent letter which may or may not have been purely about legal issues surrounding the murder of a person who was already dead)

"Need any help?" Rhythmi asked, however if the glance down at her aqua painted nails was any indication, she was asking out of courtesy rather than because she genuinely wanted to.

"No, I'm almost done" Kate shook her head, putting Percy's mug next to Sorrel's on the rack for drying and finally moving on to her own mug.

Three loud knocks rapped out on the front door, the translucent screen rattling and creaking on its hinges as it was pushed aside. Kate raised her head, expecting to hear the sound of keys turning in the lock, only to discover it was already unlocked thanks to Rhythmi. But no, a half-minute later she just heard another three knocks.

"You expecting guests?" Rhythmi asked, flicking through a magazine left on the centre island of the kitchen.

Kate glanced at the clock. 3:13. "Er, no. Not for another twenty minutes. Percy's still on duty, and he has a key anyway."

A million scenarios started running through her mind. Maybe Murph's plane had landed early? No, he would've called ahead. Maybe one of Percy's friends outside Summerland double-timed it here and arrived early? No, most of them wouldn't knock, and those that would didn't know where the house was. A neighbour borrowing milk? No, nobody could get through the snow unless they were a ranger or had a Staraptor like Rhythmi. A crazed kidnapper looking to spoil someone's Christmas?'

'_Don't jinx it Kate_!'

"I'll check" Rhythmi offered, clearly so Kate could continue her little chore. However, Kate was frozen as she watched her blonde friend walk around the corner of the kitchen to enter the entrance hall, listening to her soak-clad feet pad across the plastic flooring and her pulling open the front door.

"Hey!" Far from screaming in horror at a gun-wielding man wearing a black balaclava, Rhythmi sounded completely overjoyed.

"Hey, yourself!"

Kate untensed, a grin creeping across her features as she abandoned the sink to see if she was correct. She swore she knew that voice! "Keith?!"

"Joy to all on Christmas nigh!" the ginger in the entrance hall announced with great flourish, taking a big stooping bow before kicking off his snow boots. The Buizel at his feet swerved around the flying shoes and jumped on top of the glass coffee table to scamper across to the sofa where he'd probably be at his safest since meeting Keith last month. "Only nine more hours 'till the big fat man comes down ya' chimney and drinks ya' beer!"

"Keith! It's great to see you!" Kate cheered with joy, rushed over and grabbing Keith in a big hug, ignoring the cold feeling of the snow collected on his over-coat, that he happily returned.

"And it looks like you have yet to get any taller, eh Katie?"

Kate scowled, wriggled out of his grasp and slapped him hard on the arm. "I am not short! I am two inches taller than Kellyn!"

Keith smirked. "_Everyone_'s taller than Kellyn. Grow another four inches, then we'll talk."

Shaking her head, Kate returned to the sink whilst Rhythmi took a seat at the head of the table and Keith shrugged off his large over-coat. "You're insufferable. And what are you doing here anyway? I thought you were going home?"

"Plans change" Keith shrugged, bent over to look at a little nativity scene set up on a cabinet "'sides, all of Fiore's practically on lockdown. They have to have special ferries to break through all the sea ice. Too much trouble." He shook his head, prodding the head of a lamb with his fingertip. "No, I got stuck at Ringtown Base. Then they wanted to lock it up for the holidays so they sent me and the one other guy left to Summerland where I met your brother and he sent me over here, offered me a patch of your living room floor and a sleeping bag." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder to pointed out a gym bag and a rolled-up sleeping bag he'd dumped at the base of the sofa. "So, is Kellyn taking the sofa or can have it?"

"Actually, Kellyn's not coming" Kate announced, unplugging the sink to let the water out and reaching for a tea towel to dry the mugs. That comment got both Keith and Rhythmi's attention.

"Say what?"

"He just said he wanted to spend Christmas with his foster family" Kate shrugged. She tried to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal to her.

"Good for him, my family sucks" Keith grunted, straightening up again and looking over at Rhythmi. "What are _you_ doing here anyway?"

"Escaping a week of prayers and gospel singing that would make Easter Sunday look like a national atheists meeting" Rhythmi answered nonchalantly, propping her chin up with her hand with her elbow on the oak table.

Keith's eyebrows furrowed with confusion. "Huh?"

"My Dad's big in our local church" Rhythmi explained "He drags us all there every time there's a religious holiday."

Keith snorted and flicked one of the decorations hanging down from the Hitomis' mini-chandelier above his head. "I swear there are far too many religious holidays. I mean, three whole days off! - not to mention those four in Spring."

"You have no right to complain" Rhythmi shot back dryly "You get all your millions of holidays with names no one can pronounce, we only have Easter and Christmas. That's all."

"Heh, I'm Jewish, it's not a crime" Keith shrugged, flicking another one of the light decorations before fixing his gaze on the cuckoo clock. "Christmas and Easter are just over-commercialised excuses to skip off work and waste money. Like Valentine's Day. Say, does that thing actually work?"

"Well, geez, someone's left his bipolar meds at home" Kate exclaimed with a sigh, folding the wet tea-towel over the railing below the counter and snatching a chopping board from the drawer next to it. She planned on cutting up a few apples and oranges for those looking for snacks - a Hitomi family Christmas tradition.

"Sorry" Keith grumbled, sliding out a chair at the opposite end of the table from Rhythmi and sitting down. He sighed and slumped down over the table, chin resting on his folded arms and his narrowed eyes looked at nothing. "I just really wish I wasn't 'ere."

"Arceus; Didn't realise we were such bad company" Rhythmi complained dryly, reaching for the grape bowl in the middle of the table before realising they were all purple grapes and sighing in disappointment.

"It's not that" Keith seemed to slump even more, hastily adding: "And it's great to be here and all, thanks for inviting me Kate, but still..." He looked wistfull as he trailed off, his frustration clearly not lying on any person in the room.

"You wish you were with Lind?" Kate tried, inwardly wincing as she said the dreaded name. Just the mention of the name 'Lind' these days tended to set Keith off. He'd close up completely and spend the next hour or so in a chair of some sort, his eyes focused on nothing and not answering when you address him (not even when the topic of conversation was food, which was what scared Kate the most). It would take something major, like the thud of a clock being knocked off the mantle piece or the whoops and cheers of people watching a successful sports match or contest on TV or a bang from a mishandled science project (as proven that weekend he agreed to help Kate babysit for the Tennesons) to snap him back to real life. Then he'd put on his happy, cocky persona and you'd never know he was the same person.

It broke Kate's heart to see her friend this way, and she desperately wanted to help, but she'd been told many times by many different people (including Keith himself) that this was just something Keith had to learn to deal with on his own.

"Yeah" the ginger grumbled, surprising the girls by answering instead of repeating the aforementioned performance. "They moved him to Goldenrod City just after I got the boat tickets for home. I tried to book to fly into Jhoto, but they can't clear the runway fast enough for planes to take off."

"Is the snow really that bad?" Rhythmi frowned, taking an apple slice as Kate finished cutting the second fruit up.

Keith gave her a sarcastic glance. "Can you tread snow?"

"No."

"Neither can I. And neither can Boeings apparently" Keith let his forehead lie flat against his sleeve-covered arms, hiding his face from view as another sigh racked his body and he muttered like a mantra: "They promised me he'd be home. They promised, they promised."

Kate was about to go and sit next to him, try and cheer him up, but Rhythmi surprisingly got there first. She shuffled along across the seats so she was sitting in the seat next to Keith's and placed a comforting hand on his knee. "Does it really mean that much to you?"

Keith shifted slightly and everyone expect to hear a reply, but they were kept waiting for a bit before: "I promised him I'd spend Christmas with him his year. He couldn't remember last year obviously, but still..." He raised his shoulders, almost as if to sigh again, but then changed his mind and added: "He looks up to me too much. It was Halloween and I took him Trick-or-Treating around Pueltown Children's Hospital. Everywhere we went, everyone seemed to know all about me, 'cos he'd never stopped talking about me. And now I'm not there for Christmas, I'm letting him down."

"You're not letting him down" Rhythmi hastily put in, clapping her hand gently on his knee.

"Heroes aren't supposed to let people down - they're supposed to help them, be there for them" Keith seemed to blatantly ignore Rhythmi's attempt at help and pressed on with his soliloquy that could make Macbeth look camp. "That's what he thinks I am anyway: a hero. And I can't even manage that correctly."

For a second, neither girl knew what ot say. Had it been any of their other friends (Kellyn included, he later admitted) talking to him, they probably would've told Keith to get over himself and get on with the holidays and enjoy himself. But something he had said had hit Rhythmi in a particularly painful spot, and her tender side was showing up more than she would've liked, but it was appropriate for Keith's situation so she didn't rein it back in just yet.

"Keith" she spoke up "You know my oldest sister right?"

"She's in the navy, yes, you mentioned" Kate agreed, looking up from her orange peeling breifly. Something that may have been a nod showed Keith was indeed listening.

"Well, even before my parents split, she was barely home" Rhythmi went on to explain "She was always stationed somewhere abroad for Christmas, birthdays, everything." The hand on Keith's knee moved up to squeeze his shoulder. "But she always made it work. And she's still my hero. So if Lind thinks so badly of you because you couldn't spend one Christmas with him, he needs to grow up real fast. And one thing I know for certain, no matter what he thinks of you: he wouldn't want you to be gloomy on Christmas, alright?"

For nearly half a minute, the only sound in the house was the slicing of fruit, the faint sound of Sorrel Skype session in the study with the door shut and the radio app on Kate's styler ironically bleating out: _"So here it is, Merry Christmas! Everybody's having fun!~"_

Finally, Keith raised his head and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He was flushed red and looked overall embarrassed. "Thank, guys. Sorry about that, that was kinda unnecessary, wasn't it?"

Kate shot him a kind and understanding smile. Rhythmi did the same, her hand removing itself from his shoulder. "No, no Keith, it's fine. You've got a problem, you come to us - that's what we're here for."

"It doesn't matter how stupid it seems, just let us know, okay?" Kate told him.

"Righty-o! Deal!" Keith grinned, perked up and officially back to his bright and sparky self. "Time to get into the Christmas spirit again! Let's rock around the Christmas tree! Fetch the mince pies! Break out the booze!"

"Keith, you're twelve!" Rhythmi looked horrified.

"Ah ah ah, thirteen!" Keith grinned. Kate was confident he was back to his old self if he was already back to bothering Rhythmi. "As of last week, last month!"

At this reply Kate was so busy laughing and 'Wizard' was so busy yelling their way over the radio and Rhythmi was so flabbergasted looking for an equally good retort, that nobody heard the keys jangling in the front door until the hinges swung open and a loud voice boomed:

"Wenches! Through hardships untold and dangers unnumbered I have fought my way for the fair maiden of this city! I require water for my horses and wine for my men!"

Kate laughed even hard at Keith and Rhythmi's surprised and dubious looks. "Looks like Freddie got here in one piece then!"

* * *

One piece maybe, but that didn't stop the lilac-haired man from grumbling the second he took off his Wintown Ranger uniform and slumped onto the Hitomis' sofa with a sigh overdramatic enough to match his arrival speech.

"It's like, ridiculously cold out there! Like, a million degrees below zero! And I was born and raised in Wintown, so I know cold when I feel it! It's Summerland - it's supposed to be warm for crying out loud! Key word: 'Summer'!"

Just then, the radio app chipped in with:_ "But baby, it's cold outside~"_

"Much agreed radio! Much agreed!"

Kate sighed and shoved Freddie's feet off of the sofa before they could contaminate it. "Honestly, are you twenty-eight or just eight?"

Fredrick Jonathan Pemberton was one of her brother's friends who wasn't stationed at Summerland Ranger Base, but at the base his aunt Elita ran up in Wintown. He was one of _those_ people - the closeted gay that, let's face it, _every_ group has. Despite his attempts to date girls in the past, it didn't take a genius to work out which team he batted for, not to mention a group of rangers who'd been to hell and back with him. Many a joke was put on Freddie that: "He's so far into the closet he stumbled into Narnia and got frozen by the White Witch to stop him ever coming out again", but Freddie knew it was just playful joking; and even though he wasn't quite ready to leave the closet just yet, he was the guy every ranger went to when the rare time to dress up and look fashionable came.

Unfortunately, he's not much of a baby-sitter. If anything _he's_ the baby that needs sitting.

"Hey, I'm crashing on it! I should at least be able to put my feet up!" Freddie whined, pulling out his styler and texting someone, probably Murph or Percy. He'd been invited along by Percy after Elita announced she was having a night out with the leaders (it was their thing - every Christmas the four of them went out for the night, whilst all other rangers scarpered or tried to prevent the bases blowing up while the four were out) and all his friends in Wintown were spending the holidays with their families. With his parents going on a second honeymoon, Freddie was stuck in Fiore and even the idea of crashing on the Hitomis' sofa for the holidays seemed better than spending them pretty much alone in Wintown Ranger Base.

"Where's Chris?" Kate sighed, looking towards the front door. She couldn't see the large frame of Freddie's partner.

"Oh, he's pickin' Murph up from the airport, if the plane lands" Freddie rolled his eyes, though they remained focused on his fingers flashing across the keyboard of his styler. "The darn thing's been diverted to a different airport twice already. Nowhere's open." He looked up for a second and his eyes settled on Rythmi.

...Or should I say, Rhythmi's _jacket_.

"Is that Marc Jacobs?" he inquired.

Rhythmi startled slightly, caught off guard, before looking down at her blue jacket. "Why, yes. Yes it is. Good eye."

Freddie immediately perked up, the grin on his face so bright and cheerful it looked like it could cure cancer. "Lord Arceus, I was on their website just yesterday!"

"Really?" Rhythmi's grin wasn't quite as bright, but it was certainly a runner up in the 'Grins as bright as the Sun' competition. She perched on the armrest of the sofa Freddie was sitting on. "Which section?"

"Well I started with—"

"And this guy's staying here, with us?" Keith mumbled, leaning across to Kate so Freddie wouldn't hear; though he may as well have not bothered because the Wintown ranger was so deeply into his conversation with Rhythmi he wouldn't have heard a plane crashing on the roof.

Kate sighed. "Look, I know he's as queer as a three Pokédollar bill, but can you please just be nice to him? I don't need Elita on my case for mistreating her nephew."

Keith stared. "That's her nephew?!"

"Yes."

"Is he as scary as her?"

"Er...spontaneously."

"And he has to stay with us?"

"Yeeeeah."

"_Has_ to?"

"Yep."

The doorbell rang out, a feeble whirring noise that reminded Kate for the hundredth time to get Percy to fix the darn thing already. She glanced over at clock: 3:36.

"That should be Murph" she told Keith "Can you put the fruit on the table? Make sure there's a mat under the bowl."

"'Kay" Keith shrugged his agreement, turning towards the table. Kate walked in the entrance hall, shoving Freddie's boots aside with her foot and avoiding the patches of waters left from the melted snow on the various shoes.

"Hey Murph! Glad you could ma—" Kate broke off, not knowing what to say. '_That's not Murph_.'

The man standing in front of her was most certainly not Murph. This dark-eyed young man was probably around the 21-years-old mark, tall and slim with an incredibly pale and long face and dark-blue hair.

"Er...hi?" Kate tried, feeling incredibly dwarfed and wondering if her theory of a crazed kidnapper invading the house was that far off.

"You - Name - Is - Caitlin?" the man asked in what sounded like broken English, his dark eyes fixed on a piece of scrappy paper clutched in his gloved hand.

Kate doubled blinked in confusion. "Excuse me?"

The man frowned deeper, glanced down at his grubby piece of paper again. "You - Name - Is - Caitlin?"

Kate somehow managed to snap back to reality as she realised what the man was asking. "Who, me? Yes. Well, no, my name's Kate."

The man still didn't seem to get it. "You - Name - Is - Caitlin?"

Deciding it was as close to Kate as this man was capable of understanding, the ginger girl nodded. "Yes, alright then. Caitlin's fine."

The man reacted to that, perking up slightly before glancing down at his scrap of paper. "Hoose - Noomber - Five - Soomerland?"

"Yes, house number five" Kate nodded again, gesturing at the house number nailed to the wall beside the doorframe.

"Caitlin. Hoose - Noomber - Five - Soomerland" the man repeated to himself in a mumble, eyes still on his paper. If Kate had to guess, it sounded like this man didn't speak Fiorian and was just reading the questions off of the paper someone had given him, plainly not really understanding what he was saying and only reacting to when she nodded. "My - Name - Is - Ison Solovyov. I - Murph - Friend - For - Almia."

"Oh, your a friend of Uncle Murph's?" Kate asked. When the man - Ison, as he'd introduced himself - stared at her blankly, she repeated. "Murph?"

Ison nodded in comprehension and pointed at the end of her completely snowed in driveway. There she could see Christopher Reyes - dubbed Silent Chris by most rangers - pushing his way through the thigh-deep snow (and considering Chris's height that's about Kate's waist - more snow than she'd ever seen, even in Wintown) and carrying a familiar man on his shoulders.

"Uncle Murph!" Kate cheered, waving at him from the door.

"Where?! Where is she?! Where's my favourite self-proclaimed niece!" Murph Imachi called out from his perch, however his position meant he couldn't see the one who'd called out for him.

Kate wanted to rush out into the snow and give her favourite uncle (she thought of many of Percy's friends as her fun-loving uncles and aunts, but Murph and - on occasion - Spenser were the only ones she dared call Uncle to their faces) a big hug, but she was bare-footed so she waited until Chris had carried Murph to the porch and set him down before she threw her arms around him. "It's great to see you Uncle Murph!"

"Well, my favourite niece, how long do I have before Freddie spots me and started raging another Great War about my uniform?" Murph grinned, referring to his PR Representative uniform that he was still wearing.

"No luck I'm afraid" Kate informed him, pulling back out of the hug "He's already here."

Plainly internally cursing his bad luck, Murph sighed with disappointment. "Well, might as well get it over with, eh." He looked over his shoulder at Ison, who was stood next to Chris looking rather sheepish. "Er, you don't mind me bringing Ison along, do you? I sorta promised Professor Hastings I'd watch out for him, since he doesn't have any family in Almia."

"No, no, that's fine" Kate waved it off, linking arms with Murph she she led him inside. "C'mon, it's freezing out here."

Murph shot her a mischievous smile. "So, when do I get to met this boyfriend of yours I've been hearing about?"

* * *

"Er, Kate? Why do you have swords in your house?"

Kate's head snapped up from the Suduko puzzle she'd been watching Chris do from over his shoulder. "Keith! No!"

Rhythmi, across the room in the kitchen pouring herself a drink from the fridge, spluttered and sounded alarmed. "Swords?!"

Kate whirled around, and sure enough saw Keith picking up a fork-like dagger from a padded silver box perched on a cabinet with a picture of the ocean hanging above it. "No, no, no! Keith! Keith, put it down! Put it down!"

"Wha?" Keith looked baffled as Kate yanked the sword out of his hand and set it down with its twin in the padded box, slamming the lid down and clipping the claps shut. "Sword?"

"Sai swords" Kate clarified, stowing the box in the top drawer of the cabinet for safe-keeping. "They're Percy's."

"Dare I ask, why?" Keith inquired. Asking why a ranger had a pair of Sai swords in his house was just as sensible as asking why a karate instructor had a shotgun in his dojo.

"Percy's a die-hard Glee fan - don't ask" Kate sighed, yanking Keith away from the cabinet in the hope it would keep him away from it. She did _not_ need any catastrophes with Keith and a pair of sharp pointy objects.

"Er, speaking of your brother—" The words were scarcely out Freddie's mouth (his nose was pressed up against the front window and his breath was starting to fog it up) before the front door opened.

"-shovel this thing already, Sorrel's going to get lost in this stuff if it doesn't melt soon, and then you'll have a flood on your hands."

Kate recognised the voice in the entrance hall and her face visibly lit up. "Leilani!"

"Don't you think I tried? I just—Oof!" Percy and his Politoed were almost bowled over by Kate as she tore past him to grab Leilani in a big hug.

"Relax girlfriend, I just saw you yesterday" Leilani laughed, returning the vicious hug that to some guests looked like it was capable of breaking a few of Kate's ribs.

"I know" Kate giggled, wriggling out of the hug before she really did break a bone. Leilani was the older sister she wished she'd had, much like Solana was although Leilani was obviously tangible. "But until, like, an hour ago I'd spent all day by myself or with Sorrel and/or your boyfriend, and you know better than anyone what they're like."

"Clumsy nut-brains that seek to take over You've Been Framed with their stupidity, yeah" Leilani agreed with a cheeky smirk.

Percy's retaliating "Oi, you cheeky brat!" though was downed out by a high-pitched: "Oooh, cosy!"

Kate's heart sunk as she recognised the voice of the person who's just slipped past her into the living room, perching on the armrest of the sofa next to Ison, who looked extremely creeped out at the strange person suddenly invading his personal space.

"Navïayer" Kate grimaced. Of all of Percy's strange gaggle of friends, this one was her least favourite. Platinum blonde, blue-eyed, porcelain skin, 21-years-old - she ought to be the most stereotypical princess ever to exist. But no; instead she was obnoxious, stubborn and lived very much up to the popular interpretation of blonde people.

Glancing at Leilani, Kate murmured: "Did you have to bring her too?"

"Sorry" Leilani whispered back apologetically "She wouldn't shut up about it, and you know what she's like when she wants something."

Kate sighed with disappointment, but understood what Leilani meant perfectly. Navïayer truly walked to beat of her own drum and was one of the two reasons why working at Summerland wasn't paradise - the other being the long distances between her and her old school friends.

"Mind if I stay too?" Navïayer asked, dropping her duffle bag down by the sofa in a way that clearly said 'I'm staying even if you say no'.

"Sure, why not" Kate groaned, wondering how she had got herself into the mess. Three words: Percy's. Over-zealous. Generosity. (Okay, maybe they were three _big _words, but they were still three words). "We're already getting a reputation of being the Salvation Army, taking in homeless rangers left, right and centre. No need to break my streak now."

"Oooh, goody!" Navïayer cheered, clapping her hands together and jumping to her feet, causing Ison to shift further along the sofa towards Freddie, poor guy. "In you come boy!"

Kate had just moved to stand by the armchair Percy had settled himself into when Leilani was almost flung off her feet by a Vaporeon tearing into the house and stopping at Navïayer's feet, her cooing as she petted it. "Good boy, Yan. Who's a good boy? You are! That's right, you are!"

Rhythmi just stared before leaning over to Kate and murmuring: "She called it Yan?"

"Ianto" Leilani clarified, listening in which slightly concerned Kate about what friends Percy was keeping. "Cameron let her put on a Doctor Who and Torchwood marathon when she was still a trainee when we were snowed in at the base last January. Since then we've been subjected to endless puns and quotes - it's quite concerning actually."

"Okay, so. I have a liking for Torchwood, it's no a crime!" Navïayer raised her hands in surrender, plainly overhearing Leilani though none were sure if this was Leilani's intention. "Besides, I wasn't as into it as Percy. Oh you should've seen him when Ianto died! He used up, like, three whole boxes of tissues! And don't even get me started on Vera and Ester. Ester especially since—"

"Oi!" Percy looked alarmed and furious, whirling around in his armchair. "Navïayer Eversoul, you keep your mouth shut and no one's gonna get hurt!"

Navïayer raised her eyebrows, looking near-stunned. "Are you threatening me? Who are you and what have you done with Percy?"

Rolling his eyes, Percy turned his head towards the television. "Stranger with the blue hair, can you pass the remote? The news at five is starting soon."

"Percy, we're watching a Christmas movie" Kate informed him, picking up the remote and turning the television on. The previous channel had a rerun of 'Friends' on, and - knowing Leilani was a big 'Friends' fan - left it for the guests to watch, though Percy did groan with boredom and exasperation a bit.

"Ugh! All this stupid snow! It's gonna ruin my new boots!"

It was Rhythmi's heart's turn to sink at the sound of the voice at the door. She turned to look at Kate from the spot she had moved herself to so to see the television. "You invited Aria?"

Kate closed her eyes and sighed, looking like she was trying to stay calm. "No - I invited Keith. Not our Keith, the other one." She looked at Rhythmi. "Are they dating again or something?"

"Er, no" Rhythmi shook her head "They're off again. But that doesn't stop Aria from being a jealous stalker ex."

"Hey guys" the six-foot-four blond man that was Keith Maki announced whilst walking into the room, unzipping his coat. He instantly noticed Keith Dazuru walking back from the kitchen with a can of diet coke. "Hey nephew!"

"Hi Uncle K" Keith the ginger shot his godfather a half-wave as he sat down on the sofa where Ison had been previously (the foreigner had offered to start the fire with Murph, as Kate didn't know how to do it and Percy was frustrated enough without her bugging him).

"So Keith, you got the invite" Kate welcomed him, taking his coat and placing it on a hook behind him.

"Yeah, thanks for that by the way" he gave her a pat on the shoulder with a smile. They didn't know each other all that well, but they knew _of_ each other and were more than willing to be civil to one another. "Fall City Base is great an' all, but it can get a bit much at times like this." He gave a wistful sigh, and a few people ducked their heads as they knew what he was sighing about.

Before Kate could leave him though, he grabbed her arm in a fierce grip and gave her a panicked blue stare. "Please, however you do it I don't care, just please keep Aria away from me. I think she's stalking me."

Kate couldn't even reply before he had released her arm and had crossed the room in four big strides to perch on the footstool beside the sofa.

"Move out of the way will you!" Kate felt a hand on her shoulder before she was shoved aside out of the path of Aria Belle, who strutted to the sofa and sat between Freddie (who was messing on with his styler, looking like he was texting somebody again - honestly he was as text savvy as a stereotyped Asian kid) and Keith Dazuru. "Well don't just stand there gaping like a Magikarp! If this is a so called 'Christmas party' - and a lame one at that - where's the alcohol or booze or whatever you trainees call it these days?"

"There's kids at this party - there'll be no drinking" Leilani told her seat on the floor with Navïayer.

Aria blew a raspberry. "Lame! I thought coming here would clear my depression. Turns out you're all just a bunch of naïve saddos."

Rhythmi rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright, no need to go all Krakatoa and take a stab at us."

Aria groaned, slumping in her seat. "I am so depressed I've worn the same outfit twice this week."

"How come?" Keith (Dazuru) asked, taking a sip of his diet coke. He may not like Aria very much - not a lot of people at Ringtown Base did - but for the sake of being a good guest he decided to try smalltalk.

"Well, maybe it has something to do with the fact Joel is an uptight _jerk_ who keeps on shooting down my _fabulous_ ideas for the winter dance declaring them too 'costly' and _someone_ keeps cancelling my diet pill orders! It's like we can't afford them or something!"

Rhythmi grinned. "A real mystery, eh?"

Aria groaned, placing a hand to her forehead. "Mysteries make my head hurt."

Kate gave her a friendly clap to the shoulder. "Oh cheer up you sad sack, it's Christmas!"

"An international over-commercialised money pit" Aria grumbled in return.

"Exactly what I said!" Keith chimed in, downing some more of his diet coke.

Aria scowled, shoving the ginger off of the sofa. She then grimaced at the television. "What's this shi—"

"Friends!" Percy quickly answered, cutting Aria off before she could swear in the presence of twelve and thirteen-year-olds. Honestly, how was she a ranger again?

Aria blew a raspberry. "Bor-ing. Gimme." She reached out to grab the remote from Leilani who was luckily sitting at the base of Percy's armchair.

"No way, bog off!" Leilani scowled right back, holding the remote far out of Aria's reach. "Whatever Reality TV you want to watch, it ain't going on!"

Aria went red with rage, looking like she was ready to fly into a tirade of abuse. "Oi Camo Girl! You—"

"Hey! Hey, you still there?! Sorry, the line's a bit rusty!"

Everyone glanced at Freddie, who had stood up from his perch on the edge of the sofa and was yelling into his styler that was pressed up against his ear, what looked like an aerial sticking up from it.

"What's he doing with his styler?" Rhythmi frowned.

"Calling someone via mainline" Percy explained "That's the only thing the aerials are used for, so no one ever sees stylers with aerials up."

Rhythmi raised an eyebrow. "They can do that too? Is there anything those stylers can't do?"

Murph paused - looking up from where he and Ison were trying to work out how to start the fire still - thought about it, and then answered: "Tell the time."

Rhythmi looked even more surprised. "Seriously?"

"It's a common misconception" Leilani clarified.

"Vatona and Nage were building it and they didn't have room with all the other fancy stuff, so they left the clock out and told everyone to wear watches instead - I asked them" Murph explained, then scratching his head "Though maybe they would've had room if they removed all of those mini-games."

"No way!" Navïayer burst, shocking Murph back into silence "Do you have any idea how much I depend in those mini-games during one of Joel's meetings?!"

Nobody dared to comment. Instead the argument remained fixed on the mini-games side of the argument rather than the ignoring of meetings side of it.

Freddie scrunched his face up with annoyance. "Sorry, say what?"

"Who's he calling?" Kate frowned, sitting down on the arm of Percy's chair.

Percy shrugged. "None of my business."

Freddie placed his other hand over his styler and shouted into it: "Sorry, sorry! Jules, hang on a sec! I can't hear ya! Just one sec!" Looking around frantically, he headed into the corridor and opened the door of the study. He startled and said (more than likely to Sorrel who Kate hadn't heard leave the room and she found herself glad Skype didn't charge on call time): "Sorry, Kid! Sorry!". He then turned and fumbled with the handle of the bathroom and barricaded himself inside.

"Jules?" Kate tilted her head to one side. "He got a sister we don't know about or something?"

"Julian" Chris clarified, looking up from his Renogram puzzle (because by now all the rangers had come to realised they could always count on Chris to be the supplier of brain-tickling Japanese puzzles). "Colleague."

"Oh, Julian Carson?" Rhythmi separated herself from the still-going-on argument on mini-games that had shifted over to the pointlessness of PacMan. "I've heard of him. His step-sister's the operator at Wintown, and I think he's stationed up there too."

"Obviously, 'cos there's no way Freddie would try a long-distance relationship" Percy shrugged, his eyes still on the Friends episode flashing by on the television screen.

Ceasefire.

Everyone's heads turned to look at him, eyes wide with shock or confusion. Keith (Maki) summed up their thoughts perfectly with: "Say what?!"

Percy frowned and looked as if he was about to say something else, but then his eyes widened and he covered his mouth with a muffled curse. "Shit, he's gonna kill me!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Leilani strode over and planted both her hands on either side of Percy's head, essentially pinning him down in his armchair. She looked angry, but probably not for him swearing in front of children, even if these were children who'd saved more Pokémon in one day than most rangers helped in a decade. "Are you telling me you not only knew Freddie was three feet out of the closet but he'd hooked up with someone?! And if you even think about lying to me, then Arceus help you Percy, I will Not. Hold. Back!"

Percy just stared up at her in fear, like a deer in headlights, eyes clearly reading: "I don't know anything!". Everyone else just stared at the pair in utter silence.

The silence was broken by the sound of the study door opening. Sorrel stepped out, grabbed a bag from just inside his bedroom door, swung it over his shoulder and began to head back down the corridor, plainly heading for the front door. Just before he was about to turn into the entrance hall, he flicked his head up and noticed everyone staring at him, drawn to the ruckus he'd made.

"Did I just step into a teen movie or something?" he frowned. Everyone shook their heads, but nobody said anything. Sorrel frowned even deeper. "Okeeee~? Well, I'm going over to Sebastian's house - he said I could have a sleepover, but his mum said I had to get permission. I'll take Shadow with me. Please?" Kate and Percy again just wordlessly nodded. Sorrel looked at them in incomprehension for a bit before shaking his head and leaving with a: "Bye!", a whistle and a: "C'mon Shadow!"

After the front door slammed shut again, everyone was in silence again, just staring at the place where Sorrel had just left. Nobody said a word...

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Until Keith (Dazuru) cleared his throat loudly, drawing everyone's gazes to him.

"So, anyone else got something they wanna share with the class?"

* * *

"I'm shaking and I can't work out if its because of low blood sugar or rage."

"Since when were you a diabetic?" Percy frowned, taking a sip of the champagne that Navïayer had some-what forced Kate to pour into glasses.

"I'm not, here standing my point" Keith grumbled.

"'Here standing my point'? Are you possessed or feverish?" Rhythmi frowned at him "I thought you were trying to be positive for Christmas now."

"Just leave him" Murph groaned, shifting on the carpet where he was sitting after Aria had forced him and Ison off the sofa. The jet lag was starting to kick in and he was yawning near constantly with black bags under his droopy eyes. "He's sulking because Kate refused to put Herbie on 'cos it's not a Christmas film."

"But anything beats this crap" Aria snorted, receiving a few glares in response for swearing in the presence of children again, whilst filing her nails, curled up on the sofa. "I personally wanted Two Weeks in Paris, but Mister Cheese-Strings hair over there," she jerked her head in Percy's general direction "put his thread-bare foot down."

Keith scowled and glared at the television. The film 'A Christmas Wonderland' was playing - the typical plot of two young children outsmarting a fat man and a thin man both after a hunk of cash - on the screen (it was the only Christmas movie on at the same time as the Doctor Who Christmas special, and with Navïayer there, there was no way they were watching _that_!).

"C'mon Keith, cheer up, it's not that bad" Rhythmi tried, sitting down on the sofa next to Keith and patting him on the arm comfortingly.

"Herbie rules" Keith grumbled on, his arms folded and face in a glowering frown directed at the television screen. "This sucks."

"Yes, well, we're watching it" Rhythmi sighed "Leilani, Chris, your namesake and Freddie—"

"—who isn't even here and has more than likely fallen down the toilet."

"Whatever, they want to watch it and, like you, they'll get angry if we turn it off and make them watch Herbie for your sake."

"_They_'ll get angry?" Keith snorted "I'm OCD, what's their excuse?"

"I think you mean ADHD" Rhythmi corrected.

Keith shrugged. "I dunno. I wasn't really paying attention to the pharmacist when she gave me the pills. I swear, it was like I was buying off a very sugary-sweet drug-dealer - only the government pays her to do it."

"But Keith—"

Keith glared obstinately back. "But my butt, no way."

Rhythmi winced and leant over to Percy to murmur: "Houston, we have a problem."

"_You_ have a problem" Percy shot back, his eyes turning down to his book again "_I _have a final segment of the Hunger Games trilogy to read."

Murph held up his hands in surrender. "Don't look at me! I may be jet lagged, but I'm not confrontational!"

"Hence why you failed as a ranger and why the Ranger Union has a reputation for being soft via representative" Aria grunted. Murph recoiled like he'd been visibly struck.

"Can I punch her, please?" Leilani requested, looking like she was seriously struggling with the urge to.

"Hey, lay off of Murph, alright" Keith (Maki) added, placing a hand on Aria's knee which he could reach whilst perched on the sofa's footstool.

"Hands off the skinnies, Banana Head" Aria glowered at him and Keith's hand retreated from the knee of her skinny jeans.

"Hey, enough" Rhythmi warned the older rangers, then turning back to Keith (Dazuru) who was apparently still sulking. "Keith, a thirteen-year-old's rage is very different to a twenty-something-year-old's rage."

Keith rolled his eyes. "Potato, pot_ah_to."

"They're _not_ the same thing, Keith" Rhythmi stressed her point. "Twenties adults are _way_ more scary."

"I beg to differ" Chris may have murmured under his breath, but no one was quite sure.

"Do these Pringles taste like sausage?" Keith (Maki) asked, holding up one of the crips he'd been eating out of the Pringles bottle he'd stolen for the kitchen whilst looking for chocolate a while ago (that hunt was unsuccessful).

"Uh-huh, bacon-flavoured" Leilani confirmed, eating through a stack Keith had offered her. Keith threw up a bit in his mouth.

"Hey, what's going on?" All looked up at Kate as she approached the house guests, holding a flask between her oven mitt-clad hands. "Oh, here you go Uncle Murph." She held the flask out to him. "My mum's recipe - she deals with jet lag all the time so I should think it works."

"Thanks" Murph murmured, half asleep, reaching for the flask. However, his hands had barely touched the flask before he pulled them away with a yelp. "Ooh! Hot! Hot hot!"

"Ooh, sorry" Kate apologised, setting the flask down on the carpet. She then slipped off her oven mitts and handed them to Murph, who used them to pick up the flask and wait for the drink inside to cool, but the heat seemed to wake him up a little.

Kate looked at the television where the movie was still playing. "What are you watching?"

"Some 'Christmas Wonderland' crap" Aria grumbled, by now no one bothering to reprimand her for the swearing.

"Oh cool" Kate shrugged, taking a seat on the arm of Percy's armchair.

Percy glanced across at the cabinet by the kitchen, then frowning even deeper than he was before. "What happened to my Sai swords?"

"Keith was gonna mess with them, so I shoved them in the drawer" Kate reported.

"'Shoved'!" Percy looked scandalised "You 'shoved' them in a drawer?! Do you have any idea how much those cost?! I bought them with my first pay check!"

"You bought swords with your first pay check?" Navïayer raised a blonde eyebrow, staring at Percy in what was probably disbelief.

"I was expecting anti-anxiety pills" Aria grumbled, though she was promptly ignored.

"Relax, they were in their case" Kate rolled her eyes. "Geez, you're so bossy when you're around your pals."

"You're bossy all the time" Percy shot back, coolly.

"Ring-ring."

Before she could respond to Percy's comeback, Kate nearly jumped a mile into the air, her heart skipping several beats, as Ison emerged from nowhere like the freaking boogeyman.

"Ison don't do that! You nearly stopped my heart!" Kate gasped, then looking at Murph "Murph, how do you tell him not to do that?!"

Murph however was asleep, his forehead resting on the lip of the flask, plainly having fallen asleep whilst waiting for the drink to cool. Keith (Maki) slipped down off of the footstool to floor next to Murph and elbowed him awake, which he did so with a jolt and a groan.

"Alright, drink up" Keith sighed, guiding the lip of the flask to Murph's lips so he could drink.

"Ring-ring" Ison repeated himself, holding something out towards Kate.

"Oh, thanks, sorry, didn't hear it" Kate told him, taking the house phone from him and checking the missed call. She recognised the number. "Oh, Mr Lilis called!"

"Mr Who?" Leilani frowned.

"Kellyn's foster dad" Rhythmi clarified.

"Ohhhhh" Leilani nodded with comprehension, a smirk on her lips.

There was a smirk on the now cheered up Keith (Dazuru)'s lips too. "Ooh, did you miss your boyfriend's call, Kate?"

"Katie has a boyfriend?!" the other Keith shrieked with what might have been horror or scandal. "No way, you're too young for a boyfriend! Percy how come you let her?! You're, like, as uptight as a Japanese businessman!"

"Keith Dazuru, for the last time, Kellyn is just a very close friend, not my boyfriend" Kate told the ginger sternly "Your namesake's right - I'm too young for a boyfriend."

"Kate, 'Denial' is not just a river in Egypt" Keith (Dazuru) smirked, before glancing at Ison who was tugging his sleeve. "What?"

"Ring-ring" Ison told him, pointing down at Keith's bag to prove his point. Sure enough, the light on top of Keith's styler was flashing to show he'd received a text.

"Are you, like, tuned in to psychic electrical messages or are you watching our stuff for a reason?" Keith frowned, reaching into his bag for his styler. He glanced down at the text he'd just received, noting the code showing it was from a phone rather than another styler, and paled drastically.

"What? What is it?" Leilani asked, craning her neck to look over Aria and see Keith's styler.

Keith breathed only one word, a word that made sense to only a few people in the room: "Lind."

His namesake tensed immediately at the familiar name, so Rhythmi quickly added on: "Two. Lind Two. Jr."

Being based at Fall City, Rhythmi knew the story of the infamous Keith and Lind. Partners and near-identical friends (both swore they weren't brothers or even related, however they did argue like brothers so that might be where the rumours came from). But it was Lind's untimely death at the meagre age of 14 that was one of the turning points that helped finally put an end to the three-year-long Great War between Almia and Fiore. Keith though - understandably - had never really recovered from the death of his long-time friend and partner.

"I-I..." This stammer brought everyone's attention back to Keith (Dazuru, to make sure you're following). Some had looks of pity and understanding, others who didn't know of the existence or delicate condition of Lind Dazuru looking completely baffled.

Rhythmi placed her hand on Keith's shoulder, making him look up at her. "You should call him."

Keith paled so much he looked like Frosty the Snowman. Even his hair appeared to turn a slightly paler colour of orange. "But what if he—"

"You won't know unless you call him" Rhythmi encouraged him. Keith blinked up at her for a few seconds the cogs turning in his head, before slowly nodding.

"Okay" he breathed "Okay." He rose from his seat and - as Freddie was still in the bathroom (people really were starting to wonder if he'd fallen asleep in there) - headed into the study to take the call.

A shrill ringing noise broke the ensuing silence.

"Oh Arceus!" Kate yelped as the house phone went on in her hand "Hold on a sec!" Pressing the answer button, she jumped into a pair of boots, grabbed a coat (it was actually Freddie's but she was too preoccupied to care) and raced outside.

All the others in the room looked at each other and nodded, the same word on all their minds: "Boyfriend."

"Someone's in denial" Leilani grinned "Honestly, it's gonna take them, like, a decade to sort out their feelings and it's gonna drive us all mad, just you watch."

"There's the pot calling the kettle black" Aria grumbled, rolling her eyes as she thought of the multiple times they'd all nearly been driven mad by Percy and Leilani's decade-long wait before becoming a couple.

Navïayer gasped and whispered to Murph, scandalised: "That's so totally racist!"

Murph though just groaned and let his forehead rest against the lip of his flask again. "I hate jet lag."

* * *

_"~We'll drink a cup of kindness yeah, for the sake for Auld Lang Syne!"_

"Okay guys, seriously, did all of you break into my realm just so you could get totally smashed and sing Auld Lang Syne even though New Years isn't for another week?" Owari stirred his non-alcoholic eggnog with a wooden spatula, glowering slightly at the others sitting in a random circle in the ever-reaching and ever-boring Betwixt and Between.

Azrael slammed down his goblet of magically refilling champagne (courteously delivered by Reo, despite the fact he was banned from drinking), letting out a boisterous laugh that could outrank Jolly Old Saint Nick. Owari winced - clearly he was as smashed as Hwita, who was apparently hysterically crying at something.

"Don't break the glass" the nine-years-old-by-apparance boy scolded Giratina's messenger "I've got half a dozen dimension planes directly below this one, and this flooring glass creates one heck of a mess - those shards are really hard to find and ouch do they hurt when you stand on them!" He rubbed the sole of one of his bare feet, wincing as if recalling that unfond memory. "Plus, it's expensive."

"Where do you get magical non-scuffing flooring glass anyway?" Reo asked, sounding like he'd gotten a few sips of Azrael's drink whilst the older messenger wasn't looking.

"From Glass-o-lot!" Hwita roared with laughter, dragging the others (except Owari) down into the laughing hell pit with her.

"Okay, seriously, that wasn't even funny" Owari rested his cheek on his palm, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And you are far too drunk - the legendaries are gonna kill me for letting you guys do this."

"Geez, cut back 'Wari!" Azrael grinned at him like a dopey idiot, which he was being at the moment. "Arceus, you're so flaming uptight!"

"Awww! I think it's cute!" Hwita chipped in, standing up on her knees to pat the top of Owari's disgruntled head. "Don't you worry your little hobbit head off, Frodo! All is now right with the world!"

"Uh-hmm!" Reo coughed to get her attention "Operation Brighton. Next year."

However Hwita's reply to that was unknown because at that moment, Owari jumped up from his seat in what looked like a rage, tossing his goblet of eggnog aside.

"That's it! I've had enough!" he raged. They could make any jokes they wanted about his uptightness, but jokes about his height and pointy ears were off the table. "I'm leaving! Reo," he looked down at the ginger boy. "Make sure they get home safely, okay?"

"Sure, why not, nothing better to do with my time" he sighed, nursing his magically refilling goblet of Orange Fanta, glaring at it now and again as if his misery was all the goblet's fault.

"Good - time to spy on some un-witting mortals who choose to drink themselves to death on Christmas, much like you guys" Owari simply nodded before warping out of there.

"Annnnnnd Mr Spok has returned to the ship!" Hwita loudly announced, the amount of alcohol (or in Reo's case - sugar) in their blood making almost everything sound hysterically funny or hysterically sad. In this case, the rambunctious laughter showed the scale had tipped to the hysterically funny side.

"So, are you going to the New Years party at Halfmoon Isle?" Reo asked giddily once the laughter had stopped echoing around the Betwixt and Between so badly they couldn't hear each other.

"Well duh!" Azrael giggled (yes _giggled_ - Giratina would be highly ashamed if he _ever_found out), wiping some saliva from his lips with the back of his palm. "And you, of course, Hwita?"

Hwita set her goblet down, slightly calmer than she was before. "Actually, I was planning on spending the rest of the holidays on Earth."

Reo gagged on his Fanta. Azrael ended up spitting out his champagne in shock.

"No!" the messenger of Giratina yelped. "Bad idea! Bad, bad idea!"

"Don't you remember the last time you spent Christmas on Earth?!" Reo was practically shrieking "Earthquake! Tsunami! Thousands dead! Any of this ringing a ding ding?!"

Hwita blew a raspberry. "Oh please! The Boxing Day conundrum was not my fault."

"Liar, liar, pants in the dryer!" Azrael hollered, pointing at her with an angry glint in his red eyes.

"We all know it was your fault!" Reo chipped in "The only question is what ethereal being you pissed off enough to prompt such a disaster!"

Both of the teenagers (outwardly-looking at least - both were actually far older than teenagers) turned their head to gape at Reo, Hwita letting out a strangled: "Reo!"

"Where did you learn that word?!" Azrael demanded, looking like he was about to start inexplicably sobbing.

"From you!" Reo shot back "And whilst I may look six, I'm not actually! I'm much older than you, Azrael, and therefore qualified to swear and drink if I want to!" The speech would've been effective and powerful enough to stun even the most composed of beings...if it hadn't been coming from the mouth of a six-year-old ginger.

"Oh, whatever!" Hwita blew a raspberry, little drops of champagne flying everywhere. "Let 'im have a sip and stop his babblin'!"

"Owari 'll kill us" Azrael pointed out, sliding a hand across his throat to demonstrate.

"We're already dead! Duh!" Hwita shot him a 'how stupid are you?' look. "And 'sides, Owari's isn't even here!"

"Ohhhh!" Now, normally Azrael would never agree with Hwita no matter what the circumstances, but the alcohol was messing with his brain and it just felt so much easier to agree. "'Kay then."

Reo let out a cowboy's cheer and shot them a grin that belonged on a toothpaste advert. He leaned over, took Azrael's goblet and took a swig.

"C'mon, one last time for Auld Lang Syne!" Hwita cheered, holding her goblet in the air. The boys cheered with her.

_"~Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, for the sake of Auld Lang Syne!"_

* * *

Kate rushed out of her house as fast as the snow would allow her to, her panting muffling the voice on the other end of the line. In an effort to escape the white death trap, she fought her way across the buried boardwalk and scrambled to the top of one of the sand dunes - the snow there thinner and easier to stand in. Finally, she was able to catch her breath.

"Sorry Mr Lilis!" she apologised, still huffing slightly from fighting her way through the excessive snow. "We've been having weather problems here and I had to get out of the house to hear you!"

"Mr Lilis eh? Well, I've gone by a fair few names in the past - surnames especially - but never my foster-dad's name."

Kate froze as she recognised the voice chuckling down the line. She knew that voice: the voice that spoke through texts and e-mails every week, but she had never actually heard in nearly six months. Her voice nearly cracked as she stammered. "K-Kellyn?"

"Merry Christmas" she heard him chuckling on, not at all bothered by the fact he had stunned her. "So, you excited for your birthday?"

"You...You _called_ me" Kate stammered on in a near-whisper "You never call."

"Yeeeeah" Kellyn sounded sheepish "You know me: I'm still not comfortable with telephones. I know, I know, it's stupid—"

"It's not" Kate cut in hastily, hating it when Kellyn bet himself up. Some may see it as a pity party, but Kate knew Kellyn had been through a lot in his short life and this self-loathing was completely understandable. "You're just not used to speaking your thoughts, that's all."

"I-I guess" Kellyn still didn't sound convinced. "Thanks."

"No problem, you can tell me anything, remember?" Kate was starting to feel more at ease more she was talking to Kellyn - he just had that effect on her. "So, how's your sister?"

"Melissa? Oh, she's fine. Actually, ever since she got a phone for her birthday she's been pretty much ignoring me."

"So does she actually want you to be there?" Kate asked, raising an eyebrow although Kellyn wouldn't be able to see it. She was used to talking to him when they couldn't see each other's faces.

"I think she'd murder me if I didn't stay."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I think she'd smack you upside the head for staying if she knew your motives just to try and be a big brother to her again – I've never even talked to her and I know that. I suppose you do know her better though, she is a diva after all."

"Oi!"

Kate found laughter bubbling in her chest - proper laughter that she had missed in so long. "So, besides the fact your foster-sister is blatantly ignoring you, how are things in Almia?"

"Well, things have gone all weird lately, what with all the new kids over at Ranger School coming home for the holidays. There's this student who's Barlow's niece or something - some Sinnoh girl - staying in my room at the base and I swear she's shorter than me, which I didn't think was possible and is slightly unnerving."

Kate laughed even harder, but she didn't get to respond in words before Kellyn hurriedly asked: "Do I sound like a girl?"

Kate stopped laughing abruptly. "What?"

"Do I sound like a girl?" Kellyn repeated his question.

"Well...er..." Kate stammered "It's just your voice hasn't dropped yet. Keith's has either. It's no big de—"

"Yeah, but will mine ever? I mean, I just found out how to use it? What if I've left it too late?"

Kate was about to fold her arms, but then remembered it was just a phone call and stopped herself. "Okay. What's this about?"

"Er...well..." Kellyn sounded a little flustered "Well, I was in Pueltown the other day with Crawford, and we'd stopped in Pueltown Base to see Sami - she says hi by the way - and there was a guy our age there and he...well..."

"He well what?" Kate pressed.

"He...He thought I was a girl."

Okay, don't blame Kate, but she almost rolled back into the snow in years of laughter, blatantly ignoring Kellyn's: "Don't laugh!"

It took the better part of three minutes for Kate to calm herself down, all of which was filled with Kellyn grumbling about her being 'the worst best friend ever'.

"So, what did you say to him?" Kate finally got out between her laughs.

No reply.

Kate's laughing tirade died away as the smile left her face, something dawning on her that made her heart sink. "Kelly, you did tell him you were a guy, right?"

"It-It's not my fault! I mean, I freaked out! Who wouldn't?! It totally wasn't my fault the guy must've been, like, blind or something! I mean he—"

"Kellyn!" Kate heaved a sigh of exasperation as she cut his rumblings off. Honestly, sometimes dealing with Kellyn was like dealing with a teenage girl. "Point. Now."

"And...I ran away."

Kate facepalmed. "Kelly..."

"Well, I didn't run. I hobbited off in the general direction of the next 'This is your life, Kellyn Hajime: look at how messed up it is' exhibition sign."

"Is that exhibition still running? I thought they'd taken it down by now."

"No, it's back by popular demand."

Okay, humour wasn't working. First Keith, now it seemed Kellyn was determined that Christmas was to be 'the most _miserable_ time of the yeeeeeear!'. "All joking aside-"

"Who's joking?"

"All joking aside" Kate ground out, determined to make her point. "That's nothing you should be so riled up about."

"I know! I know" Kate heard a muffled thud and then in a just-as-muffled voice a reply: "I'm pathetic..."

"I can't hear you when you hide your face in a pillow."

"This pillow is a Kricketot."

Kate shrugged, again forgetting Kellyn wouldn't be able to see it. "Same thing."

"And an angry Kricketot at that."

"Still the same thing."

"Ugh, my life is such a _cliché_! I'm so going to have a show on Bravo someday."

Kate giggled. "I'd watch that."

"Not funny Kate."

"No joke. Keith, Rhythmi and I would get together and eat popcorn whilst watching you run your mouth on TV."

"NOT FUNNY!"

Kate's giggles were now full on laughs again. "Wh-Who's laughing?!"

"Grrrr! I hate you!"

Kate tried to stall her laughs, mainly because Kellyn truly did not sound amused at all. "Yeah, yeah; love you too."

Kellyn didn't reply, and Kate wasn't sure of what to say. Her sounds of amusement and joy faded into the silence only broken by the grating of the sea and occasional wind stroke whistling by her. And suddenly, Kate realised just how far away they were. She'd known Kellyn for eight months without him speaking a word to her, but this silence was different to the ones she'd known. Before, she could look right into his eyes and know exactly how he was feeling - he was an open book, no matter how hard he tried to hide it - and could give him a pat on the shoulder or a friendly hug or a stern talking to when necessary without a problem. After that he'd be back to his normal self and they could just be on their way like they usually were. But now, all she could do was listen to his rhythmic breathing over the phone, and stare out over the ocean knowing that somewhere - so many miles away - across that ocean, her best friend was in his bedroom with an angry Kricketot (she'd ask about that later) and she had no way of helping him other than through words, and those had never been their best communicative service anyway.

"I-I miss you" she whispered, hoping her almost cracking voice was picked up by the phone.

"Me too. So much" Kellyn's voice was almost as quiet as hers - she had to press the phone against her ear to hear it completely - and sounded on the verge of breaking like hers. "All of you guys, I miss you so must it hurts." Kate heard a little sarcastic laugh at the end if that. "Arceus, I sound like such a creep now, don't I?"

"No!" Kate quickly put in "No, I understand! Really, I do!" She swallowed, a tear starting to well up in her right eye. "It's like there's a knife in your heart and - and - and it's just keeps turning and turning and then when it all hits you—"

"—It's like that knife has been shoved even deeper."

"Exactly!" Kate finishes, an undisguised sob break into the word. She has to fight hard and take some deep breaths to suppress any other sobs that might follow.

"No, no don't cry! Kate! Latios; no, please don't cry! Please."

Kellyn's pleading tone reminds Kate of her earlier promise to make this Christmas as jolly as possible and she wipes tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her poofy camo coat - an early Christmas present from Percy given to her because of the dramatic cold front mid-December. "I'm sorry. Sorry, it's just...I really wish you were here."

"I know. I know, and I'm sorry. But Melissa...I've never really been her big brother before, I've never been there for her, even if she could care less now. My whole foster family - they gave me so much and I just ignore them for the fantasy of a real family I'll probably never have. But there's more to a family than blood and genes, and that's why I'm obligated to spend Christmas with them, right?"

"..."

"Right?"

"I'm sorry" Kate shook her head, again demonstrating how unused to she is at hearing the voice of her best friend and him being unable to see her. Just the idea she'd have to get used to this stung. "I meant I really wish you were here always, not just for Christmas. All four of us, together."

"Kate" Kellyn sounded conflicted, a sigh following her name and she could imagine him running his hand though his chocolate-brown locks. "Transfer? I—" Again, another sigh. A tiny spark to hope was lit within Kate. "I mean, I thought about it. Tonnes of times. But to ask Barlow to transfer, and to another region at that...I-I just feel like I'd be seeming ungrateful, you know, for all they've done for me."

"I know" Kate breathed, a nod following her words "I understand."

"_**The years apart may sting, but they rarely scar, and they are made up for so many times by the years together**_."

Solana had told her that once, and it was a lesson she was determined to stick by. Solana had survived being apart from the most important person in her life for eleven years - surely she, Kate, could survive a few months.

...But those few months seemed to be dragging on forever.

"Kate? Kate, you still there? I've got to go - dinner's on the table."

"Oh? What? Right, right" Kate caught up with the conversation, her heart shattering a little at the thought of it drawing to an end. "I-I love you."

It was just their little saying. Kate wasn't sure it meant anything - maybe they were too young to completely embrace its true meaning - but they finished every letter with it, so now it just felt right to say it out loud to each other, even if it was over the phone. Kate though felt a level of desperation with it, like she needed to hear Kellyn repeat those words to give her hope. Hope of a future. _Their_ future. Together.

"Love you too, Kate. Bye. Oh, and, Merry Christmas."

There was a pop, a crackle and then the line beeped dead.

Almost as if in a trance, Kate pressed the 'end call' button and lowered her arm to her side. She shivered in the cold air, the evening sky above her a blended mash of blue, grey, purple and pink: a colour indescribable with words. A calm had sunk over her - a calm that wouldn't release it's hold over her no matter how many times he reminded herself there were still guests at her house and soon someone would come looking for her and she was being so—

"Breathe, Kate."

Kate felt someone take her hand. Robotically, she turned her head and meet Keith's eyes, a broken look in them reminiscent of her own with a fog of worry blanketing them. Worry...for _her_? Why?

"Kate, breathe. In and out, that's it."

Kate suddenly felt lightheaded and she realised she wasn't breathing. Correcting herself immediately - stubbornly refusing to spoil anyone else's Christmas with her owns selfishness for _forgetting to __**breathe**_! - she focused on what Keith had told her about breathing in and out, in and out, in and out...

In

And out

In

And out

In

And out

In

And out

"There we go, better" Keith's thumb traced little circles on the back of her gloved palm. Then his voice dropped a tone or two as he asked monotonously: "That was Kellyn, wasn't it?"

Unable to speak, Kate just gave a teary nod before throwing her arms around Keith. The ginger startled at first, but quickly got over his shock and hugged her back. They stood there for a moment on that cold beach with the almost-set sun against the ocean in the background, before Kate whimpered in a small voice:

"Thanks for being here Keith."

Keith's face relaxed into a smile. A tired smile that and seen too many emotions to be completely content, but a smile none the less. "Nowhere else I'd rather be, squirt."

The feeling of his toes being trod on through his boots as a retort for the nickname made them both chuckle, a bit of their usual squabbles and banters that was just so _them_ playing out and making them feel a bit better.

"Merry Christmas, Kate."

Kate clung a bit tighter to Keith's jacket, her head against her friend's chest, a reminder she hadn't lost her friends - they were still with her, always.

"Merry Christmas to you too."

"Ooh, tongue twister! Never can pass up a chance to make me look simple, can you, huh?"

Kate grinned into Keith's jacket, slapping his shoulder lightly. "Oh, shut up!"


End file.
